Wednesday, February 18, 2015
8:09:57 PM EDT

Relative Strength In Healthcare

by
James Brown

Stop Loss: 149.50
Target(s): To Be Determined
Current Option Gain/Loss: Unopened
Average Daily Volume = 1.1 million
Entry on February -- at $---.--
Listed on February 17, 2015
Time Frame: 8 to 12 weeks
New Positions: Yes, see below

Why We Like It:
The big healthcare names have been showing relative strength. HUM is one of the biggest health care plan providers in the U.S. What makes the healthcare names so attractive is the government's Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare). This new program has generated millions of new customers. It should. Currently the law states that if you don't have healthcare insurance you have to play a penalty. It was 1% of your income last year. This year the penalty rises to 2% of your income.

The ACA just completed its latest enrollment period and over 11 million people signed up, which was above expectations. This is a bullish tailwind for the industry as a whole and fuels investor optimism that business will continue to improve for the big health care providers.

HUM describes itself as "Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a leading health and well-being company focused on making it easy for people to achieve their best health with clinical excellence through coordinated care. The companyâ€™s strategy integrates care delivery, the member experience, and clinical and consumer insights to encourage engagement, behavior change, proactive clinical outreach and wellness for the millions of people we serve across the country."

Earnings were definitely mixed last year. Q3 results announced last November were a miss on the bottom line while revenues were up +18% for the quarter. HUM lowered their full year 2014 guidance at that time. Their most recent earnings report (Q4) was announced on February 4th. Earnings were $1.09 a share, a +36% improvement from a year ago. Yet they still missed Wall Street estimates by six cents. Revenues rose +21% to $12.33 billion but that missed estimates as well. HUM is reporting definite improvement and it feels like Wall Street analysts have just been too optimistic.

Shares of HUM are not seeing any sell-off based on the earnings miss. Management reaffirmed their prior guidance of $8.50-9.00 per share for 2015 compared to consensus estimates of $8.86. Another positive for HUM stock is a massive $2 billion buy back program the company announced last September. The expiration for this repurchase program is December 31st, 2016. However, it is worth noting they may not spend it all. They had barely spent 20% of their last stock buy back program before announcing the newest one.

Investors don't seem to care about HUM's earnings miss. The expectation is that the ACA will continue to generate a steady supply of new business for the industry. Thus investors have been buying the dips in HUM. The stock has a bullish trend of higher lows and higher highs. Today the stock is breaking out past resistance near $155.00. The point & figure chart is bullish with a long-term target of $173.00. Tonight we are suggesting a trigger to buy calls at $155.75.